Twine needles used on standard size crop balers are generally formed of a one-piece casting of suitable metal such as iron. On very large balers, however, this type of needle is not acceptable since it would be too difficult and too costly to replace if it becomes damaged.
The present invention solves this problem by providing a baler twine needle including a body portion and a tip portion detachably secured to the body portion. The tip portion is constructed so that it will fail at a selected point in response to a predetermined force being exerted on the tip portion. If the tip portion should fail, it can be easily replaced without also replacing the body portion. The predetermined force will cause no damage to the body portion.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the tip portion has a section of reduced thickness at the selected point, and the tip portion breaks off at this section when the predetermined force is exerted on the tip portion .